Nağīb Maḥfūẓ giornalista: antesignano della primavera araba?

Besides being a novelist and short story writer, Nağīb Maḥfūẓ was also a journalist. His association with “al-Ahrām” constantly accompanied his literary career. He actually expressed his thoughts on the socio-political situation of his time in the maqālāt (articles) he published in the above-mentioned Egyptian newspaper founded in 1875. In 1990, after he had been awarded the Nobel Prize, his articles were collected in some books, such as Ḥawla al-dīn wa ’l-dīmūqrāṭiyyah (On Religion and Democracy), which includes the maqālāt he published in “al-Ahrām” from 1974 to 1985. As suggested by the title, this collection focuses on two very relevant topics, i.e. religion and democracy, and their possible and hoped for coexistence in Egyptian society. Such a coexistence is feasible – as one can infer from the book - only if society learns to respect an unbreakable principle: freedom, in all fields and at all levels